Following an anticipated large-scale diplomatic walkout during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the global body, told JNS that “we cannot ignore the noises we hear at the United Nations.”
Netanyahu’s speech on Friday still served as a critical opportunity for him to “honestly tell the entire world what we are facing, the challenges, the isolation,” and to say that “we are committed to finish this war with the hostages back home and Hamas is out of Gaza,” Danon told JNS.
Netanyahu used part of his remarks to decry “weak-kneed” government officials, particularly in Europe, for “caving” to internal Islamist pressure to libel and boycott Israel as a result of Jerusalem’s prosecution of its war against Hamas.
He “explained why Israel cannot and will not stop the war with hostages in Gaza,” Danon told JNS. “We also heard about the region and our hopes to have peace treaties with Lebanon and Syria.”
JNS asked Danon why Netanyahu did not lay out a vision for an end to the war to complete the regional transformation. “We are working on it,” the envoy said.
Danon said that Netanyahu could not go into the details publicly about what is happening behind the scenes, but “we will achieve the goals either way, either through negotiations or through the hard way.”
Netanyahu wore a pin on his lapel with a QR code linking to graphic footage of the Oct. 7 attacks. Israeli officials have been wary for two years about making that footage available for widespread public consumption and have been criticized for hiding Hamas’s barbarism as a result.
“There were always talks with the families about it,” Danon told JNS. “It was a sensitive issue, and I think it’s never too late. We have to expose it.”
Danon said he invited U.N. diplomats to screen the footage on Friday in the building. “It’s important for every human being to see the barbarity of Oct. 7 and to realize why we are so determined to finish the job this time,” he said. “We cannot allow Hamas to regroup, rearm and attack us again.”
The walkout at the beginning of Netanyahu’s talk “was a show” that was planned in advance, Danon said. (JNS reported the walkout plans late on Thursday.)
“They brought junior diplomats in, in order to ask them to get out,” Danon told JNS. “But most of the countries stayed in the General Assembly hall, respected the prime minister and respected Israel.”
“We appreciate that,” he said.
Reactions from American news media varied, running from the CNN headline “Delegates walk out on Netanyahu speech at UN” and CBS News headline “Israel’s Netanyahu addresses U.N. as some walk out” to The Wall Street Journal headline, “Netanyahu says Israel’s critics ‘caved’ to pressure, as his isolation deepens.”
